USCCB

The U.S. Catholic bishops do not condone unlawful entry or circumventions of our nation's immigration laws. The bishops believe that reforms are necessary in order for our nation's immigration system to respond to the realities of separated families and labor demands that compel people to immigrate to the United States, whether in an authorized or unauthorized fashion.

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson has announced that the Archdiocese of St. Louis is launching a "Campaign for Religious Liberty."

The six-month campaign will begin on Sunday, May 27, the feast of Pentecost, and end Nov. 25, the solemnity of Christ the King. Priests in the archdiocese were notified of the campaign this week in a letter from the archbishop.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A newly announced reform of an association of women's religious congregations in the U.S. offers the sisters and their bishops an opportunity to communicate and work together more closely, said the archbishop named by the Vatican to oversee the reform process.

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle spoke to Catholic News Service in Rome April 22, a day after arriving for a periodic "ad limina" visit to the Vatican.

WASHINGTON -- Religiously based restrictions on reproductive health services for victims of human trafficking cannot be imposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, a federal judge has ruled.

By delegating to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops the decision on which services to offer or not offer to trafficking victims, HHS violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled March 23 in the case filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in federal court in Massachusetts.

A USCCB spokeswoman called the ruling a disappointment March 26.

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said there is more "confusion than clarity" in the revised federal contraceptive mandate.

In a March 1 blog entry on the New York archdiocesan website, the cardinal said the U.S. bishops will "keep up advocacy and education on the issue" and "continue to seek a rescinding of the suffocating mandates that require us to violate our moral convictions."

Edward Hogan, director of the archdiocesan Paul VI Pontifical Institute, has developed the following Q&A on the HHS health care mandate.

Q. Many Catholics believe that the Church's teaching on conscience means that every individual must follow his or her own conscience, and respect others' right to do the same. In opposing the HHS mandate, aren't the bishops contradicting that teaching, and imposing on the conscience of others?